Research Reports
A Study of a Plan to Link the Local Community Development Policy with Urban-to-Rural Migration
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AuthorJu-In Seong, Jung-Seob Kim, Sang-Jin Ma and Byeong-Seok Yoon
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Publication Date2012.11.30
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Original
Background of Research
With the growing public's interest in the returning to rural areas, numbers of urban residents are moving to rural areas. Moreover, expectations are high that the inflow of relatively young, highly educated people in the high-income category could play a big role in revitalizing the rural areas. From now on, it is necessary to break away from the early stage of policy development where the focus was placed on inflow of urban population into rural areas and seek a new direction of urban-to-rural migration so that it is mutually beneficial to the local community and the migrants alike. With such a background in mind, this study examines the role of the migrants and seeks to find a plan that can link the migration support policy with the local community development policy.
Method of Research
To this end, this study employed literature review, collection of statistics, analysis of survey results, and holding of policy seminars. In the case of the policy seminars, which were held jointly with the Presidential Committees on Regional Development, it was held to discuss in each one of the four major regions of the country.
Research Results and Implications
The increase in the urban-to-rural migration is a very encouraging sign from the perspective of rural development. Moreover, there is a high expectation for policy support in that the new inflow of population can contribute much to revitalizing the stagnant rural economy. On the other hand, however, there are many conflicting issues to consider. First, it is unclear as to who are the policy targets of rural migration. Especially in the case of those migrants who have not chosen farming as their occupation, it is unclear as to how they can be distinguished from those who have simply relocated their residence. In other words, the differentiation of those returning to a farm from those simply relocating to a rural village varies from one administrative region to another. Second, since rural migration has been highlighted as a means of attracting population into rural areas, policies have focused less on settling in of the migrants. Third, the local communities' expectations and interest in the migrants' role of revitalizing the local economy are high.
This study examined what roles the migrants are playing in rural areas. In the case of urban-rural exchange projects or economic activities of various kinds, the activities tended to be livelier where there was a higher number of migrants. From an organizational perspective, too, there were contributions made by the migrants as they were able to increase the synergy effect of the rural migration policy by sharing their experience of migration and playing the role of helping new migrants to settle in a rural area. As the migrants' experience of providing assistance accumulated, their role as a partner to the local government expanded too. Based on the these analysis results, for seeking solutions that can harmonize the migrants' activities with the local community, this study examined cases of the migrants' local community activities and presented implications.
Based on the summary of the above discussions, the following policy directions are suggested. The government should refrain from taking a leadership role in accelerating the urban-to-rural migration and focus on minimizing the mistakes that can be made by those who are preparing to move to a rural area. Since private organizations as well as the migrants are effective in helping the settling-in of migrants and inducing their participation in diverse activities, the policy focus should also be placed on revitalizing the role of private organizations so that they can cooperate with the administration on a horizontal footing. A number of policy measures can be devised to achieve this. First, efforts should be made to induce distribution of an organizational model of private-public cooperation that can carry out the local government's rural migration policy. Second, policy measures should be sought to link the activities of rural migration organizations with the organizations of native residents. Third, the socio-economic fields of private organizations working for urban-to-rural migration should continuously be expanded.
Researchers: Ju-In Seong, Jung-Seob Kim, Sang-Jin Ma and Byeong-Seok Yoon
Research period: 2012. 4. - 2012. 10.
E-mail address: jiseong@krei.re.kr
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